Chinese workers in AfricA

data: Chinese workers in africa

1. Chinese Labor data overview

The number of Chinese workers in Africa by the end of 2016 was 227,407 according to official Chinese sources.

In 2016, the top 5 countries with Chinese workers are Algeria, Angola, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Kenya. These 5 countries accounted for 65% of all Chinese workers in Africa at the end of 2016; Algeria alone accounts for 40%.

There was a steep decline of over 36,000 workers from 2015 to 2016.

These figures include Chinese workers sent to work on Chinese companies’ construction contracts in Africa ("workers on contracted projects") and Chinese workers sent to work for non-Chinese companies in Africa ("workers doing labor services"); they are reported by Chinese contractors and do not include informal migrants such as traders and shopkeepers.

3. CARI SOURCES

Several Chinese government sources report figures of Chinese labor abroad, but all sources report the same numbers. These sources include the China Statistical Yearbooks, the official website of the National Bureau of Statistics, the China Annual Bulletin of Statistics of Contracted Projects, and the Almanac of China’s Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, as well as the Almanac of China's Foreign Economic Relations and Trade. All sources have matching figures, the difference being the range of years covered.